Kinch Kinski

Dear you,

I thought I should write a little something to let you know what this work is all about, why we care about it so much, and why we need your help.

It's hard to pinpoint where any project begins. Once you're in the midst of a new work it feels like it's been brewing forever. I guess this one started back in 2011, while I was still recording my last EP, 'Rough cuts from Sing Sing'. Around that time my life went crazy (it's all in the EP, for those with ears to hear), and the subsequent year and a half of emotional tumult was the primary inspiration for the songs on the new EP.


(Kinch Kinski's most recent EP, 'Rough cuts from Sing Sing)

So, that's where the songs came from, but the decision to actually record them was quite recent. I sing with the Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir and we did a show on PBS 106.7 in August where some of us had solos. A woman named Louise Pine sang 'Shine on Me'. Pine's voice has an enigmatic quality: sweet with an arsenic edge of chutzpah and a nostalgic echo of the 1920s. As soon as the first notes rang out in the studio, I knew our voices would blend into something uniquely beautiful.
Have a listen to her singing with the choir:



(The Melbourne Mass Gospel Choir at the Thornbury Theatre)

Once Louise agreed to write harmonies and sing on the EP, other people started popping out of the woodwork. Benjamin Drane and Josh Redford from The Wild Comforts offered their services on drums and guitar and an old collaborator of mine, Adam Barnett, is gonna play bass. My sister Camilla said she would write cello parts, and her man-friend Andre Bonetti agreed to compose something on cimbalom for the closing track. And we took on the name Burnt letters, because that's what a lot of these songs feel like: letters I couldn't send, so I'm singing them instead.


(The Wild Comforts in action)

As the musical side of the EP started to look quite exciting, we decided that we should really give it a proper launch and some good promotion.

That's where you guys come in. With the funds raised from this campaign we would have the basic financial resources to make sure that we can do this thing right and give it a proper launch. The launch is gonna be pretty special, and the after party will be good, good times as well (oh, and you're all invited!)...

Much love,
Kinch Kinski

PS. The launch date and venue have been confirmed - 5th of April, 2014 at The Retreat Hotel in Brunswick. Put it in your diaries kids, it's gonna be a good one!

Meet the musos

Early vocal session photo gallery

The funds raised in this campaign will be used to cover the costs of recording, producing, and launching 'Split in Two', as well as to cover the costs of promoting the launch.†
The recording itself should be relatively inexpensive - I have a very modest home studio (read: garage) and a friend and I are gonna mix and master the thing. So the funds will just be used to cover the costs of some equipment we need to buy and to pay the instrumentalists involved.

The costs for recording break down like this:

*Equipment: $200
*Paying musicians (a duty often neglected!): $480

Another cost will be printing up the actual EPs. Design should be somewhere between cheap and free, as some friends and I will collaborate on it ourselves. But we'll still need to employ the services of the fine folk at Implant Media to get it done, which will cost some monies. The EPs will be printed up on full-colour cardboard gatefold cases that are gonna look gorgeous. Keep your eyes on this space for an early look at the design!

Printing is gonna set us back:

*Design: $0-50
*Getting the EP from our minds to your hands: $1,150

The other costs will be associated with launching the EP. We wanna put on a really good show with a full band and super secret surprise guests, who'll need to get paid. Plus the launch will need to be promoted.
The full costs of promoting and holding an event like this can run quite high and we'll shoulder a lot of it but a little help with it will go a long way!

Again, hard to say how much it will end up really costing, but if we can get these baseline amounts through this campaign we should be able to get it done without ending up sleeping under a bridge:

*Promotional costs (radio spots, posters etc.): $500
*Costs of the launch itself: $620

Then - everyone's favourite part - there will be an after-party with bands, drink, food, revelry, and (if I book my dream venue) possibly some very strange creations from Mr. Tim T.

Again, a lot of the cost for this will end up being shouldered by us, but I reckon we'll need some help with venue and equipment hire:

*Goodgoodtimes budget: $500

Grand total: $3,500

The major obstacle we foresee will be getting people excited about the project and along to the launch. There are so many amazing acts in Melbourne and so much quality work being done that it can seem a little daunting to put yourself out there and hope for support.

One side of our plan for dealing with this is to play a lot of gigs between now and the launch at which we will promote both this campaign, the forthcoming EP, and the launch. The other is to use street press, Unpaved, PBS, RRR, and other such Melbourne institutions to keep our project in people's consciousness.

We also believe in what we're doing and when you're really committed to making something work, you find a way!

If you have any questions about the project, the pledges, or anything else you can't find info about here feel free to drop us a line: [email protected]